Hunter has pledged to play,<\/a> rather than skip the game to prepare for the NFL draft and prevent any possible injury as many top prospects do. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior from Suwanee, Georgia, plans to pass up his senior season in Boulder and is expected to be a top-five pick by the pros \u2014 perhaps even No. 1 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cHe wants to be great at everything,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cHe wants to have a commitment to excellence in everything he does \u2014 including fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Showcasing his blazing speed and explosive playmaking, Hunter rarely came off the field this year \u2014 making him an every-down throwback to generations gone by and the first full-time, true two-way star in decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On offense, he had 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns, plus a rushing score. On defense, he made four interceptions, 32 tackles, broke up 11 passes and forced a critical fumble that secured an overtime victory against Baylor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the Buffaloes winning games and challenging for a Big 12 title, he soared from a long-shot underdog in Heisman futures last summer to a heavy betting favorite this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All the while, striking the Heisman pose with teammates to celebrate big plays as it became more and more clear Hunter was the man to beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI definitely can kick, (too). I\u2019ve just got to practice,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t stop moving when I\u2019m not on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hunter played nearly 700 snaps each on offense and defense \u2014 the only Power Four conference player with 30-plus snaps on both sides of the ball, according to Colorado research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would seem an overly exhausting workload for any player these days, both mentally and physically, but not Hunter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think I laid the ground for more people to come in and go two ways,\u201d he said Friday. \u201cIt starts with your mindset. If you believe you can do it, then you\u2019ll be able to do it. And also, I do a lot of treatment. I keep up with my body. I get a lot of recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rated the country\u2019s top recruit in the 2022 class, Hunter stunned many observers when he committed to play for Sanders at Jackson State, an HBCU that competes in the lower-level FCS, with the promise of playing both offense and defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of people told me I couldn’t do it,\u201d said Hunter, wearing white shoes and a light blue suit \u2014 his favorite color. “I always say I’m going to prove them wrong and I’m going to prove myself right.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After one season, Hunter followed Sanders to Colorado and was a consensus All-America selection as an all-purpose player last year despite sitting out three games with a lacerated liver caused by a late hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following his recovery, a healthy Hunter finished strong in 2023 and then really took off this season, catching passes from Shedeur Sanders, the coach\u2019s son, and becoming Colorado\u2019s first Heisman Trophy finalist in 30 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 21-year-old Hunter, who plans to get married in May, is the sixth transfer to take the award over the past eight years and the first winner to begin his career in the FCS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook where I’m at. It paid off,\u201d Hunter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wanted to be different,\u201d he added later. \u201cMe being different makes me feel more comfortable than doing the norm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deion Sanders, nicknamed Prime Time during his playing days \u2014 seemingly by himself \u2014 was a two-time All-America defensive back at Florida State and finished eighth in 1988 Heisman voting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An electrifying kick returner, who also played major league baseball by the way, Neon Deion went on to a Hall of Fame career as an NFL cornerback but mostly just dabbled on offense besides a 36-catch season with the 1996 Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing quite like Hunter, who now has Heisman bragging rights on Coach Prime forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
abcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK — Travis Hunter turned every play into prime time \u2014 on both sides of the ball \u2014 and ultimately took home the Heisman Trophy. Now he\u2019s got a leg up on his celebrity coach at Colorado. The two-way star won college football’s most prestigious award Saturday night, punctuating a tireless performance all season by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":35910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5782],"tags":[1301,1186,2608],"class_list":["post-35909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ep","tag-colorado","tag-two","tag-way"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35911,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35909\/revisions\/35911"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}